Hope to cope – Cards to care for the hope

Hope to Cope is a card game designed to nurture the hope of activists. The cards contain prompts divided into four different categories which are somatic, self-care, reflection, and action.

Feeling down? Is the hope wearing off? Are you feeling anxious or stressed? This game is meant exactly for those moments. It is to stay with the trouble. It is to find hope to cope. Draw a card whenever you feel the need. Draw it by yourself or in a group to share and care for each other’s hope.

Extreme or chronic stress can have a devastating impact on our ability to be in the world in the way we would like (LaDyne and Kain 2020, 8)

If there is a lack of care, it is not that most of us do not care, but that we do not know how to care. We do not have the inter/personal competencies necessary for engaging with the intense combination of guilt and fear induced by this existential crisis. (Verlie 2022, 2)

Climate emergency is a relatively new phenomenon, and there is little research on how to cope under these circumstances. With the fast-paced world we live in where technology is on the rise and makes sure you are aware of every tragedy happening all over the world far-flung. We are drowning in bad news and things to fear, and no one taught us how to swim in this ocean of chaos. No one has taught us how to stay with the trouble, how to cope.

References

LaDyne, Rebekkah, and Kathy L. Kain. 2020. The Mind-Body Stress Reset: Somatic Practices to ReduceOverwhelm and Increase Well-Being. Oakland, UNITED STATES: New Harbinger Publications. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/linne-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6126833.

Verlie, Blanche. 2022. Learning to Live with Climate Change: From Anxiety to Transformation. RoutledgeFocus on Environment and Sustainability. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.